Prescriptions via mail easing backlog, panel told

January 27, 2006

Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado said the county's mail-order prescription service is helping alleviate the backlog that comes with preparing nearly 4 million medical prescriptions each year.

Getting a prescription filled from the county has become a lot less of a hassle, Maldonado said Thursday during a public hearing on the issue held at Stroger Hospital.

"But we still have work to do," he said.

There are still complaints by some who say it takes a day or more to get a prescription filled by the county, he said.

Maria Delgado, 47, said even though her medication is shipped to her home, there are problems.

"They ship it to the wrong address," she told the panel of county commissioners. "I've tried to get this fixed. But it hasn't done any good."

Another person told the group the county should consider sending patients more than a 30-day supply of medication each month, a practice that could ease the pressure of having thousands of prescriptions filled every four weeks.

Daniel Martin, deputy chief of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, said the county will look into that suggestion. But the mail-order service is helping reduce the backlog.